TUBEROUS BEGONIAS FROM SEED.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 5, 29 July 1908, Page 39

TUBEROUS BEGONIAS FROM SEED.

Provided a growing temperature of not less than sixty-five degrees can be commanded, gooil strong tuberous Begonias can readily be raised from seed for bedding ' out and other purposes, August sown plants usually producing a fine display of blooms during the month of January. As the seed is very minute, it slibtlld be mixed with a little fine sand liefore sowing, so that it can be thinly and evenly distributed.

Soil consisting of equal parts good fibrous loam and decayed leaf mould, and quarter of a part coarse sand should be prepared anl passed through a fine sieve. Well drain one or two pans with broken potsherds and rough compost siftings, fill with compost, and stand each in a larger pan of water as shown in Fig. 1, so that the soil becomes thoroughly moistened, this method of

applying water being the best both for pans and fine compost and small tender seedlings. Allow the pans to drain, and then scatter the seed carefully and thinly over the surface, lightly dusting it over with some very fine compost, and gently pressing the surface with

a piece of glass or a contrivance formed of smooth wood similar to Fig. 2, one of those shown being for use in boxes and square pans, and the other for pots and circular pans. Cover each pan with a sheet of glass and also a sheet of paper, as shown in Fig. 3, and plunge in cocoa fibre refuse with a bottom heat of about seventy degrees. Remove the glass for a short time each morning and l wipe off all moisture, remove the paper as soon as germination has taken place, and gradually expose the seedlings to full light and air, one method of gradually increasing the supply of air to a pan of seedlings being shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the glass being tilted on pieces of stick laid across the pan. As soon as the seedlings have formed two or three leaves they should be pricked out one and 1 a half inches apart in pans or boxes of compost as before, the safest method of handling them being tjo loosen the soil with a pointed stick and lift each plant and place it in position in the pricking-out box by means of a notched stick as shown in Fig. G. Whein this operation is completed, apply water in the manner before advised and keep the seedlings rather close for four or five days, after which grow on in a fairly woist and warm atmosphere.